Ski boot heel binding

ABSTRACT

In a ski boot heel binding having a jaw member swingably connected with a supporting block on a base, a lever having a concave elongated along its front surface in the longitudinal direction thereof is pivoted to the supporting block and urged forwardly by a compression spring acting against the back thereof. Provided in the elongated concave is a roll at one end of a rolling lever of which other end is pivoted to the lower portion of the jaw member, said roll rolling down along the elongated concave while the jaw member is moved up from the boot heel engaging position.

ilite @ttes patent 1191 Murata 5] 18, 1975 SKll BOOT HEEL BINDING 3,554,572 1/1971 Hashioka 280/1135 T 3,604,720 9/1971 Renge 280/1135 T [75] Inventor: Masahiro Murata, Matsudo, Japan [73] Assignee: Hope Kabushilti Kaisha, Tokyo,

Japan 22 Filed: Dec. 19, 1973 21 Appl.No.:426,026

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Decv 25, 1972 Japan 48-272 52 11.s.o1 280/1135 "r [51] Int. Cl. A63c 9/08 [58] lField of Search 280/1135 T [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,473,817 10/1969 Adam 280/1135 T 3,550,996 12/1970 Marker ..280/1l.35T

Primary ExaminerRobert R. Song Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Fleit & Jacobson [57] ABSTRACT In a ski boot heel binding having a jaw member swingably connected with a supporting block on a base, a lever having a concave elongated along its front surface in the longitudinal direction thereof is pivoted to the supporting block and urged forwardly by a compression spring acting against the back thereof. Provided in the elongated concave is a roll at one end of a rolling lever of which other end is pivoted to the lower portion of the jaw member, said roll rolling down along the elongated concave while the jaw member is moved up from the boot heel engaging position.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Pmmanum w 3.871.673 SliIU 3 OF. 3

SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING This invention relates to a ski boot heel binding to be used in cooperation with a ski boot toe fixture.

In a known ski boot heel binding in which ajaw member is swingably pivoted to a supporting block mounted on a ski, it has been proposed to use a link which is pivoted at its fore end with the lower portion of the jaw member and at its rear end with a pin guided along an elongated horizontal slot in the supporting block. The pin in the horizontal slot is urged forwardly by a compression spring disposed horizontally behind the pin, so that, in the boot heel engaging position, the spring force acts as downward engaging force of the jaw member through the link. In case an abnormal upward thrust is applied to the boot heel and thereby to the jaw member, the jaw member starts rotating with the pin in the horizontal slot retracting against the spring force. As soon as the forward pivot of the link passes beyond the dynamic production of the spring, the jaw member is thrown up by the spring to release the boot heel.

In such a ski boot heel binding, as the pin at the rear end ofthe link horizontally retracts against the horizontal spring while the jaw member swings to the boot heel releasing position, the spring forces as well as the boot heel engaging force change in proportion to the upward thrust applied to the boot heel. Therefore, when an upward thrust not so strong to swing the jaw member be yond the dynamic production of the horizontal spring is increasingly applied to and eliminated from the boot heel, the jaw member engaging the boot heel will reciprocate due to vertical play of the link. Such known ski boot heel binding is said to lack in elasticity or, to say other words, to absorb small amount of upward thrust energy.

Furthermore, in the known ski boot heel binding, the engaging force for the ski boot heel is solely determined by the spring force if the length of the link, pivoted to the jaw member and urged by the spring, is constant. Accordingly, the force of the compression spring has to be strong enough to obtain desired engaging force, which makes difficult to release the binding at will by users hand.

A main object of the present invention is therefore to provide a ski boot heel binding which has larger elasticity or absorbs a large amount of upward thrust energy until it is displaced to the boot heel releasing position.

Another object ofthe present invention is to provide a ski boot heel binding in which a predetermined engaging force can be obtained by a weaker compression spring.

Still another object ofthe present invention is to provide a ski boot heel binding which can be released at will with smaller force.

According to the present invention, there is provided a ski boot heel binding comprising a base to be attached on a ski, a supporting block mounted on the base, a jaw member connected with said supporting block by link means to be moved up and down, a lever pivoted at the lower end portion thereof to said block and forwardly urged by a compression spring acting against the back thereof, said pivoted lever having at its upper portion of said concave of said lever in the boot heel engaging position and rolling down along the elongated concave below the dynamic production of said spring while said jaw member moves up from the boot heel engaging position.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1-3 are schematic side views each showing principles of a ski boot heel bindiing according to the present invention, in which the bindings in FIGS. 1-3 are respectively in the boot heel engaging position, boot heel moving-up position, and boot heel releasing position;

FIGS. 4-6 are partially sectioned side views each showing a ski boot heel binding according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the hindings in FIGS. 4-6 are respectively in the boot heel engaging position, boot heel moving-up position, and boot heel releasing position.

FIG. 7 is a partially sectioned side view showing the same ski boot heel binding as those shown in FIGS. 4-6, in which an unlocking lever is operated, and

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing another ski boot heel binding according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the principle of a ski boot heel binding according to the present invention, the binding comprises a supporting block I mounted on a base plate 2 adapted for attaching on a ski and. a jaw member 3 for engaging with a ski boot heel (not shown). The jaw member 3 is connected with the block I by link means such as a pair of links 4, 5 or side plates (not shown). At the lower portion of the block 1 is provided a lever 6 which is pivoted thereto by a pin 7. A horizontal spring 8 is disposed in the block I behind the lever 6 and urges the latter forwardly about the pin 7. The lever 6 has at its front surface a curved concave 9 elongated in the longitudinal direction thereof. A rolling link 10 is pivotably connected at the fore end portion thereof with the lower portion of the jaw member 3 by a pin '11 and has a roll 12 at the other end portion thereof. The roll 12 contacts with the upper portion of the concave 9 of the lever 6 and is arranged such that the pins 11 and 18 for connecting the jaw member 3 to the block 1 by means of the links 5 and the roll 12 form a triangle with the roll being the apex of the triangle in the boot heel engaging position. Thus, while the jaw member 3 moves up from the boot heel engaging position, the, rolling link 10 rotates in the clockwise direction and the roll 12 rolls down along the elongated concave 9 below the dynamic production of the spring 8.

The ski boot heel binding according to the present invention is so constructed that, in the boot heel engaging position, the force of the spring 8 is transmitted to the jaw member 3 as a downward rotary moment of the latter by means of the lever 6 and rolling link 10. When the jaw member 3 moves up by the abnormal upward thrust applied thereto, the roll 12 pushes back the lever 6 about the pin 7 and the spring 8 and rolls down along the elongated concave 9. At the boot heel moving-up position shown in FIG. 2, a contact point 13b of the roll 12 with the lever 6 (hereinafter referred as roll contact point) comes below the dynamic production of the spring 8.

Accordingly, the spring force applied to the rolling link as the downward rotary moment of the jaw member 7 becomes larger than the case where the roll contact point is located on the dynamic production of the spring 8, because, due to the principles of leverage, the spring force applied to the rolling link as the downward rotary moment of the jaw member increases substantially in inverse proportion to the distance between the pin 7 and the roll contact point. Thus, comparing with a known ski boot heel binding in which a pin provided in place of the present roll is arranged to retract along the dynamic production ofthe spring, the present binding absorbs larger amount of upward thrust with less vertical play of the jaw member.

In a preferable embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. The jaw member 3 has a boot heel engaging piece and a heel bottom receiving piece 16 at the front end thereof and is connected to the supporting block 1 by a pair of the upper and lower links 4 and 5, respectively. The upper link 4 is shorter than the lower link 5 and also slightly shorter than the rolling link 10 and has a S-shaped spring 17 engaged between both pins thereof, the S-shaped spring 17 serving to positively swing up the jaw member 3 in cooperation with the compression spring 8 at the boot heel releasing position. The lower link 5 has the fore end portion con nected with the pin 11, to which the fore end of the link 10 is also connected, and the rear end portion extended behind the roll 12 and connected to the supporting block 1 by a pin 18. The supporting block 1 has side plates 19 intergally connected therewith at both sides thereof. Each side plate 19 has an inwardly curved surface 20 at its front portion, which abuts against the roll 12 in the boot heel engaging position and restricts the lever 10 from further rotating in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 4. Disposed horizontally within the supporting block is the compression spring 8 of which 7 fore end is received by a traverse pin 21 extending through horizontal elongated slits 22 in the side plates 19. The compression spring 8 is at its rear end received by a pressure adjusting screw 23 of which rear end portion extends outside of the supporting block 1, so that desired compression force of the spring 8 can be obtained by rotating the adjusting screw 23. Below the compression spring 8 in parallel therewith is provided another second compression spring 24 of which fore end directly abuts against the supporting block 1, the rear end of the second spring 24 being received by a spring-receiving member 25 through which a second adjusting screw 26 supported on the base plate 2 penetrates, so that by rotating the adjusting screw 24, the supporting block 1 slidably mounted on the base plate 2 moves back and forth and, thereby, the horizontal pressure applied to the ski boot can be adjusted.

In the boot heel engaging position shown in FIG. 4, the roll 12 at the rear end portion of the lever 10 contacts with the concave 9 of the lever 6 such that the roll contact point 13a is on the dynamic production on the first compression spring 8 and that lines connecting the pins ll, 18 at both ends of the lower link 5 and the roll 12 form triangular configuration with the roll 12 being apex. When the jaw member 3 partially moves up by an abnormal upward thrust applied thereto, the roll 12 rolls down along the concave 9 of the lever 6 so that the roll contact point comes below the dynamic production of the first compression spring 8. As soon as the roll 12 comes below the straight line between the pins 11 and 18 at both ends of the lower link 5 in FIG. 5, the first compression spring 8 swings up the jaw member 3 with the help ofthe S-shaped spring 17 to release the boot heel from the jaw member as shown in FIG. 6.

In order that the jaw member 3 may be displaced to the boot heel releasing position at will be users hand, an L-shaped unlocking lever 27 is pivoted to the supporting block 1 by a pin 28 such that an end portion 27a thereof is engagable with the head portion 6a of the lever 6, which extends above the dynamic production of the spring 8. In such a structure, when an end 27b of the unlocking lever 27 outside of the supporting block 1 is lifted, the lever 6 inclines backwardly about the pin 7 and compresses the first spring 8 as shown in FIG. 7. Thus, as soon as the roll 12 comes below the straight line between the both pins 11 and 18 of the lower link 5, the S-shaped spring 17 swings up the jaw member 3 to the boot heel releasing position.

In order that the jaw member 3 may be displaced to the boot heel releasing position by a downward force applied to an unlocking lever, for example, by a ski stock, another embodiments is shown in FIG. 8. In this embodiment, a swingable link 29 is pivoted at its upper center portion to the supporting block 1 such that both fore and rear arms 29a and 29b thereof extend downwardly to be engagable with the head portion 6a of the lever 6 and the force end of an unlocking lever 30.

In operation of the unlocking lever 27 or 30 in the both embodiments, the distance between the pin 7 of the lever 6 and the head portion 6a engaged by the unlocking lever 27 or the swingable lever 29 is longer than that between the pin 7 and the spring contact point" 14, so that, due to leverage, the jaw member 3 is displaced to the boot heel releasing position by a small force acting on the unlocking lever.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof; many modifications and alterations may be made within the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A ski boot heel binding comprising a base adapted to be attached to a ski, a supporting block mounted on said base, ajaw member moveable between a boot heel engaging position and a boot heel release position, link means connecting said jaw member to said supporting block, a lever pivotally connected at its lower end to said supporting block, said lever having a longitudinally extending concave surface formed in its front face, a compression spring acting on the back face of said lever and resiliently biasing said lever forward, a rolling link pivotally connected at its front end to the lower portion of said jaw member, a roll connected to the rear end of said rolling link and contacting the upper portion of said concave surface when said lever is in the boot heel engaging position, said compression spring biasing said jaw member in the boot heel engaging position, said roll adapted to move down said concave surface of said lever against the spring force of said compression spring to a point below the dynamic production of said compression spring when said jaw member moves from the boot heel engaging position to the boot heel release position.

2. A ski boot heel binding as claimed in claim 1 wherein said link means connecting said jaw member to said supporting block comprises a pair of upper and lower links, said lower link being pivotally connected at its front end to said front endof said rolling link and at its rear and to said supporting block at a position to the rear of said roll, said roll and said front and rear ends of said lower link forming a triangle in which said roll forms the apex of said triangle when said lever is in the boot heel engaging position.

3. A ski boot heel binding as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lever has its upper end extending above the dynamic production of said compression spring, said binding further comprising unlocking lever means pivotally connected to said supporting block and havtion lever, respectively. 

1. A ski boot heel binding comprising a base adapted to be attached to a ski, a supporting block mounted on said base, a jaw member moveable between a boot heel engaging position and a boot heel release position, link means connecting said jaw member to said supporting block, a lever pivotally connected at its lower end to said supporting block, said lever having a longitudinally extending concave surface formed in its front face, a compression spring acting on the back face of said lever and resiliently biasing said lever forward, a rolling link pivotally connected at its front end to the lower portion of said jaw member, a roll connected to the rear end of said rolling link and contacting the upper portion of said concave surface when said lever is in the boot heel engaging position, said compression spring biasing said jaw member in the boot heel engaging position, said roll adapted to move down said concave surface of said lever against the spring force of said compression spring to a point below the dynamic production of said compression spring when said jaw member moves from the boot heel engaging position to the boot heel release position.
 2. A ski boot heel binding as claimed in claim 1 wherein said link means connecting said jaw member to said supporting block comprises a pair of upper and lower links, said lower link being pivotally connected at its front end to said front end of said rolling link and at its rear and to said supporting block at a position to the rear of said roll, said roll and said front and rear ends of said lower link forming a triangle in which said roll forms the apex of said triangle when said lever is in the boot heel engaging position.
 3. A ski boot heel binding as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lever has its upper end extending above the dynamic production of said compression spring, said binding further comprising unlocking lever means pivotally connected to said supporting block and having an end acting on said upper end of said lever.
 4. A ski boot heel binding as claimed in claim 3 wherein said unlocking lever means comprises a swingable link pivotally connected at its center to said supporting block and an operation lever having a portion extending above said supporting block, said swingable link having front and rear arms adapted to engage said upper end of said lever and the front end of said operation lever, respectively. 